I like spaghetti squash, it’s one of my favorite vegetables, but I’m not a fan of covering up it’s flavor and texture with spaghetti sauce. To me, it’s not a replacement for spaghetti, it just mimics the texture but it’s so great tasting and yet low carb. When Filippo Berio sent me samples of Olive Oil, I ran to my cold food storage area (aka the unheated basement), and brought up the spaghetti squash. Squash is a great long storing vegetable, so for us right now this dish is very seasonal and from the local farm market.

My son assisted me in cooking this day. I was covering for someone on vacation all week, so I appreciated his help. Funny note: in my directions I told my son to cut the squash in half – which he did – staight across instead of lengthwise. He scooped it out to look like a bowl. Along with the squash, he roasted turip, carrots fennel and onion, all found in our marketbag. When I came home and checked on everything, we recut the squash lengthwise si it cooked more evenly.

After we removed the vegetables from the oven and let cool just enough to handle, we scraped the squash fibers out to look like spahetti, then sliced the other veggies snd tossed. For a little lightness we added fresh parsley and cut up some pea shoots and tossed along with the juice of a lemon.

Squash in general is long storing, and can make it through to the beginning of the next summer, though when they get iffy, just throw them into the composter. If you have any left in your kitchen or storage cellar, use it soon because it’s probably going to be quickly on it’s way out. Check the skin to make sure it isn’t moldy, bruised or broken before using. Spaghetti squash should be halved, the seeds scooped out and then drizzled with a little olive oil. You can use the microwave, the toaster oven or the oven to cook the spaghetti squash. I use a glass pan, which works out perfectly.

Spaghetti squash is really tasty, but I’ve figured out lately that cold spaghetti squash makes a nice base for a salad. After cooking, scrape the squash out of the skin, throw in a few more fresh chopped up veggies, a little vinaigrette and put in the fridge to cool down. Any squash leftover can be frozen in serving size portions for another day. I’ve even used my spaghetti squash as an ingredient in a green salad.

In this salad, I used my Sea Bean Salad (or Salicornia) plus some fresh sugar snap peas. Sugar snaps have a really sweet pod, so you can eat them whole, or in this case slice them in half or thirds and toss with the salad. I used lime and olive oil as a dressing along with a little smashed garlic, salt and pepper. In the photo it looks like mostly squash, but the beans and peas kept dropping to the bottom of the bowl. On the plate however, they were better situated and very tasty.

Yeah, Yeah, I know, the name is too darn long, but what should I leave out? Look at the photo, the whole thing is pretty and leaving anyone of those things out would make a not so interesting meal – visually and tastefully (flavorfully?). I still have spaghetti squash in my cold basement, but I fear it won’t last long since it’s been so warm and we need to work it in to our recipes since winter is quickly coming to an end. Chard has been regularly showing up in our Weekly Market Bag along with mushrooms less frequently. I thought this meal, stacked and then drizzled with a maple basalmic vinaigrette would be really delicious, and it was. The maple sweetness took the bite off the vinaigrette and the vinegar cut the sweetness a little.

I had plenty of spaghetti squash leftover, as well as chicken and chard (that I hadn’t covered in vinaigrette). My second meal of the week I added pasta and pesto and my third meal of the week I took the pasta dish and placed a cheese sauce over top and baked it – plus added a few more veggies like tomatoes and peppers. No photos of those, but I have to say it was a applewood cheese sauce and it was terrific. When there are only three of you, leftovers can go a long way.

I roasted the spaghetti squash with a little olive oil, sauteed the chard with onions and a little garlic – chop the stems and throw them in also, it’s all good. I sauteed the mushrooms and (leftover) roasted chicken in a little butter to soften and then topped the whole thing with a Maple Basalmic Vinaigrette. The sauce was soooooo good.